The financial picture may seem clear now, but things get fuzzy for the Town of Bethlehem when considering the year 2012 and beyond.
That was one of the key underlying messages from members of the 20/20 Implementation Committee, which has come up with suggestions of how the town can better manage its finances in the future.
At the Nov. 22 meeting of the Town Board, members of the committee gave an overview of what they found during months of analysis. Perhaps the clearest message was that the town has no multi-year financial plan that projects major issues coming down the road.
“This is a very critical item,” said committee member James Blendell. “We have a budget that’s annual. We really do not know what it’s going to be in future years, what our expenditures are going to be, what our income is going to be. In talking to the comptroller, we’re in for some serious problems in the next two or three years.”
Committee members said that the creation of a plan would help board members decide on levels of taxation, capital investments and the amount of money that should be placed into reserves. The recommendation was that the town use guidelines set by the State Comptroller’s Office and that the yearly plan should encompass projections for the next five years.
“We believe the plans should be provided to the Town Board during the budget process and it should cover the budget year, plus four additional years,” said committee member John Hudacs.
As for reserve levels, the committee recommended that the board consider establishing a formal policy on the maintenance of fund balances, although no specifics were given as to what that policy should be moving forward.
Supervisor Sam Messina, who is entering his last month in that office, said he wanted it on the record that he supports the recommendations of the committee and urges the new board to move forward with the suggestions. Other board members also expressed interest in seeing the report followed up on.
“I fully support moving forward with a multi-year financial plan and capital plan, looking at our fund balance policy,” said board member Kyle Kotary, who called it worthwhile to get an “appropriate and consistent policy” on the planning-related issues.
“We seem to be right now in the position of responding to specific individual items, requests, crises as they emerge without knowing what’s down the road six months, nine months or five years,” said Joann Dawson.
The hard part may be taking action on the recommendations. During the presentation to the board, committee members made mention of a 10-year capital plan put forward in 2009 by the town’s Department of Public Works. No action has been taken by the board to adopt that plan.
Ideas as basic as improvements in the collection of taxes are also included in the report. One point was that the town should continue to move toward online tax collections when possible. Board members were also advised of potential loopholes that allow for businesses that enter the town to avoid paying their appropriate share of taxes in their first year due to already-existing contracts with the business that used to be in their location.
Town Attorney James Potter raised questions about the legality of recommendations such as the potential for passing off collection to another entity such as Albany County. Even though a detailed legal analysis was not done, committee members told Potter that they believe the recommendations are possible based on feedback received from department heads and town employees.
While much of the report case an eye to the future, the committee did find that the town is in good shape to address accountability regarding transactions. That accountability, according to committee members, starts in the comptroller’s office.
“It is well managed,” said Blendell. “Our comptroller does a very good job. The comptroller has control of all the expenditures, all the purchasing and all the investments. You don’t get anything purchased in this town without going through the comptroller.”
The board took no official action regarding the report and did not indicate when it may be revisited.
A link to the full report can be found here
